THE BATTALION
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1974
Page 3
S0I1E
, SO I
losi
oontb
^OR^yi
'Bout [
''’hatii
/
8
Monday a.m. in Navasota
means work catch-up time
Tl :*■,*«
LOO 41
00lN61
kcles!
> ^ -
' y
a ..■■■ yy ....
-v„ S0
iEASURES AND JUNK combine at one of the stores in downtown Navasota. The old street car is
•iginally from Dallas. It is the old Akard Street Trolley. (Photo by Rodger Mallison)
qual opportunity provision
lammed by school district
By CINDY TABER
Staff Writer
A statement voicing disapproval
fan equal opportunity provision in
roposed HEW regulations will be
nt to President Ford, pending the
iproval of the board of trustees of
le A&M Consolidated Indepen-
ent School District at its monthly
leeting Monday.
The meeting will be at 7 p.m. in
le board room of the Special Ser-
ices Building, 1300 Jersey.
The statement was prepared by
upt. Fred Hopson and concerns
roposed regulations to implement
itle IX of the Education
mendments of 1972. The regula-
lons, awaiting Ford's approval, will
equire schools to provide equal
ihysical education facilities for both
exes and provide equal opportun-
ty in extracurricular sports. The
egulations will also prohibit dis-
rimination in class assignments and
esting materials.
In his letter to Ford, Hopson re
quested that the regulations pro-
ide for “separate, comparable
inter-school programs for boys and
0A£li|
girls.” He stated that these prog
rams would not allow direct athletic
competition while providing equal
or comparable facilities and prog
rams for both sexes.
“I definitely believe the goal of
equal programs and equal facilities’
will become confused with the
same programs and the same
facilities,’ said Hopson, thus allow
ing few female participants in sports
activities to attain honors while
competing against males.
“Let us weigh our directives care
fully and consider those girls who
have the ability but are not all Billie
Jean Kings!” said Hopson.
In other action the board will:
• Consider a policy revision to
allow the superintendent to make
temporary policy decisions during
the month, instead of waiting until
the regular monthly board meetings
as is the current practice.
• Consider an administrative
directive to teachers for obtaining
their principals’ approval for not at
tending the 10 mandatory inservice
workdays.
• Hear from its financial adviser
concerning the district’s financial
standing for a possible bond issue to
be proposed later.
• Consider a loan for covering
payroll and current operating ex
penses until state funds are re
ceived.
• Set a date for an informal board
meeting with the High School Stu
dent Council.
• Consider continuance of buy
ing supplies from Texas Surplus
Properties.
• Meet in closed session to dis
cuss personnel and to consult with
the board’s attorney.
Grads return
A&M graduates of 1929 and
1954 will reunite this weekend
with their activities centered
around the A&M-TCU football
game.
Gen. Ormond R. Simpson, as
sistant vice president for student
services, will address the Class
of ’29 group at a Friday evening
banquet. Their reunion head
quarters will be the Aggieland
Inn.
By RODGER MALLISON
Special to the Batt
Monday morning is a busy time in
the small southeast Texas town of
Navasota. There is shopping to be
done, business to tend to and the
ever-pressing need to talk with
friends over an ice cold bottle of
pop.
For the city manager, Wayne
Yeager, Monday is a time to catch
up on work that piled up over the
weekend.
Yeager has people to see, tele
phone calls to answer and com
plaints to handle.
The various papers and memos on
his desk speak of a man with a lot on
his mind. A single folding partition
is all that divides his office from the
reception area. The screen serves
only to make the secretary walk a
few steps farther on her frequent
trips to ask questions or to inform
the city manager that someone else
wishes to see him. The privacy af
forded is minimal.
Yeager has learned the art of
being brief. He is not given to much
elaboration when a simple answer
will suffice.
Talk is much easier at the
chamber of commerce. Mrs. Dolly
Armatys tends the shop and at
tempts to answer the questions of
the curious. The office is cluttered
with maps, bulletins and informa
tion about lakes in the area.
Mrs. Armatys speaks fondly of
her town, but is quick to point out
that Navasota has its problems.
Navasota is the largest town in
Grimes County, which is the fourth
largest dairy county in the state.
The masthead of The Navasota Ex
aminer serves as a daily reminder
that this is the “Land of Milk and
Honey.”
Besides dairy farming and other
types of agriculture, the largest in
dustry is Hackney Iron, which emp
loys 108 people. There are several
other industries in Navasota, in
cluding machine shops, a mobile
home factory, a cheese factory and
the telephone company.
Mrs. Armatys says new industry
is moving to the area, although no
real efforts are being made to get
new plants. Vultex Alloy Steel is a
new addition and Central Freight
Lines is considering a new depot in
Navasota, she said.
Unlike many small towns, there
are enough people to keep industry
going and enough jobs to keep the
people in the area. The 1970 census
showed the population at 5,111 and
Mrs. Armatys said the figure might
increase by about 300 by 1980.
Although the population is rising,
both Yeager and Mrs. Armatys say
there is evidence of some migration
of the youth to the larger cities.
Basically, there is little for young
people to do in Navasota.
A home football game provides
some relief for the weekend bore
dom, but the alternatives for enter
tainment are exhausted quickly.
Miller’s Theater is the only movie
house and it shows the same movies
on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The theater owner used to own a
pool parlor and game room, but he
closed it down for lack of business,
Mrs. Armatys said.
The biggest weekend activities
are beer drinking, dancing at the
Veterans of Foreign Wars post, and
“hanging around” (the police call it
loitering). Now that 18-year-olds
can buy liquor a night of drinking is
no problem for the high school stu
dent. In fact, it wasn’t too much
problem before the law was
changed. Mrs. Armatys says there is
a place in Washington on the Brazos
that will sell beer to anyone without
requiring proof of age.
The city isn’t totally lacking in re
creational facilities, though. There
is a golf course, some tennis courts
and lighted baseball diamonds, but
beer guzzling seems to be a more
popular sport.
Navasota is proud of its football
team. Mrs. Armatys is quick to pull
out a picture of this year’s team
when the subject is mentioned. She
is just as quick to mention that the
team is all black, except for two
whites and one chicano.
, The racial split is wide in
Navasota. At noon the high school
students split into groups on the
school lawn, with little or no in
teraction between the races. Others
go to the Dairy Queen across the
street. There they sit in segregated
groups of three or four. The black
students may pass around a Black
Muslim newspaper. The latest issue
had a full page headline about a
group of Muslims being freed from
jail in Atlanta.
There is a Muslim movement in
Navasota and the white community
can’t quite get used to the idea that
the blacks don’t show the same re
spect for the whites as they used to,
Mrs. Armatys says.
The Muslim leader in Navasota is
Joe Tex, a former singer. Mrs. Ar
matys says he sometimes goes out
on Washington Street (the main
street) to preach and pass out litera
ture.
His headquarters is a hamburger
stand run by a group of Muslim nuns
near the junior high school, which
used to be the high school for the
black students.
Mrs. Armatys says the next time
he starts to preach on the streets the
town leaders intend to stop him by
charging preaching and soliciting
without a permit. She didn’t say if
he could get a permit.
* <
PEDERSON DRUG STORE is a common place to go for lunch
or just for coffee in Navasota. Clyde Pederson serves his custom
ers himself. His daughter sometimes helps him during rush
hours. Everyone knows Pederson and his daughter. (Photo by
Rodger Mallison)
2700 SOUTH TEXAS AVE., COLLEGE STATION